Great Themes of the Bible (continued)
SANCTIFICATION
1. Two KInps OF SANCTIFICATION
HERE are two sorts of sanctification: one external, of the flesh, which makes a man holy to the Church, whatsoever he be within; another internal, of the conscience and inner man, which makes a man holy before God (Heb. ix. 13).
God's decree for man's salvation always operates through sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. By sanctification here (1 Pet. 7. 2) understand, not a federal sanctification only, but a real one, begun in regeneration, whereby we are renewed after the image of God, and become new creatures, and carried on in the daily exercise of holiness, mortifying our sins more and more, and living to God in all the duties of a Christian life, which is here summed up in one word, ''obedience"', comprehending all the duties of Christianity.
By "'the Spirit"? some would have the apostle to mean the spirit of the man, the subject sanctified. The legal or typical sanctification did operate no further than the purifying of the flesh, but the Christian dispensation takes effect upon the spirit of man and purifies that. Others, with better reason, think that by the Spirit is meant the Holy Ghost, the author of sanctification. He renews the mind, mortifies our sins (Rom.
vili. 13), and produces his excellent fruits in the hearts of
Christians (Gal. v. 22, 23). This sanctification of the Spirit implies the use of means: '"'Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth" (John xvii. 17). "'Unto obedience.' This word, as it is pointed in our translation, is referred to what goes before it, and denotes the end of sanctification, which is to bring the rebellious sinners to obedience again, to universal obedience, to obey the truth and Gospel of Christ, ''You have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit"' (ta Petala22);
This is in sharp distinction from the beginnings of our sanctification. All Christians thus far are sanctified in Christ Jesus, that they are by baptism dedicated and devoted to Him;